The Penang government has decided to issue a white paper on alleged cheap land sales by the previous Barisan National (BN) administration.

The move is Pakatan Rakyat's latest to counter BN’s repeated accusation against the current government of selling state land and for allegedly having personal interests in those transactions.

NONE Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said today that the state executive councillors' meeting on Sept 12 had agreed to expose the sales covering at least 4,000 acres of land.

The white paper, he added, would be based on the probe by a special committee headed by state exco member for local government and traffic management Chow Kon Yeow.

"The terms of reference decided by the state exco for the probe on cheap land sales include identifying cheap land sales conducted without open tender, (the) price sold and to whom it was sold (to)," Lim said in a statement.

"The paper will analyse the sale process as well as whether the land sold was developed according to the original purpose of sale.

"It will also list out the weaknesses and the financial opportunity losses forgone incurred by the state government as a result of the cheap land sales as well as recommend measures to ensure that such wrongful practices do not recur," he stressed.

'BN, Gerakan lost all honour'

Lim said cheap land sales or even land given for free by the BN government came into focus when BN alleged the sale of a 1.1 acre piece of land in Taman Manggis for a private hospital project to promote medical tourism in Penang.

BN also claimed that the land was sold below market value even though it was conducted by open competitive tender.

NONE State BN Youth chief Oh Tong Keong ( third from left, in picture ) offered to acquire the land at twice the price it was sold, and Lim has agreed by issuing an offer letter .

Lim added that the highest bid offered was accepted at RM 232 per square feet which was higher than the value given by the Valuation and Property Department under the Finance Ministry.

"It is not just BN but Gerakan has lost all honour and credibility when state Penang chief Teng Chang Yeow cannot prove his claims that four of my exco members, my political seciterated.

"Unlike the over 4,000 acres sold by the previous BN state government, the present state government only sold over 100 acres of state land to raise funds to build 18,000 units of affordable housing," he claimed.

Lim said when limited land sales by Pakatan state government under open competitive tender can be questioned, BN’s cheap land sales of over 4,000 acres must be fully answered.

He added that Chow, who is the state DAP chief, would look into the more than 4,000 acres of state land or identify even more land that were sold cheaply or without open competitive tender.